Justified [Import]

First off, I must admit that I have never been a big fan of 'N Sync. However, after seeing that Justin Timberlake's CD entered Billboards R&B Album chart at #2 , I knew that I had to take a listen. When I finally got a chance to listen to his solo effort, I was quite surprised at how good it actually sounded. For this to be Justin's first CD as a soloist, I must say that I am pleasantly surprised at his song writing skills. Though he may be a major Pop Star, his music on this CD has been highly influenced by Old Skool Soul, and that's probably the only reason why I like it as much as I do. Even though I really don't care for his first single "Like I Love You", there are some other songs on this CD that are really great. By far the stand out tracks are "Senorita", "Rock Your Body" and my favorite "Take It From Here" which is truly Old Skool at it's best......I also think that Timbaland & The Neptunes did a really good job on Production. This CD also has a pretty good balance between Pop & R&B, so I think that it just might appeal to an older audience, than the teens who usually buy his stuff with 'N Sync. All I can say is that I'm not disappointed and that's saying a lot for me.

I have to say that, for a debut album, it's not bad - he's got a few really good tracks in here. Justin's Pop roots was pulled out then replaced with R&B and light hip-hop. Some of the songwriting is downright corny lyrically but several of the songs were well done by the Neptunes and Timbaland, they made this album more than Justin.

The ballads are not that great to me but the dance tracks are well done. The tracks that stand out to me are "Cry Me a River", "Rock Your Body", "Senorita", "Last Night", "Still On My Brain", "What You Got (Oh No)", and "Let's Take a Ride".

Another drawback to this album is Justin Timberlake vocal pitch. In almost every song that he performed and sang, I felt as though he was searching for some form of range within his style throughout this album. He obviously had overdone the Michael Jackson-y stuff a bit much. As other reviewers have said, many of the tracks do have that trademark "Off The Wall"/"Thriller" sounds to them. Hopefully, Justin will phase out of that and found his own sound; even if it is a mixture as long he shows some form of originality. Justin Timberlake has a lot of talent and creativity and I hope he keeps up the effort.

`Justified' is a versatile production and arrangements that works extremely well and appeals to a lot of listeners. Justin had proved to be the best bet for success amongst the boy band stream and with that, I'm definitely interested in hearing his future release in order to see if he'd actually worked on those mention setbacks.

I can't understand why people don't like this album. Cry Me A River, Like I love You and Rock Your Body are the best songs on the album and without New Kids on the Block- there wouldn't have been an N SYNC, BACKSTREET BOYS, TAKE THAT or 98 Degrees. Justin Timberlake delivers the goods on this must-have album.